By Travis Miller
Contributing Writer
WESTFIELD – The Westfield Shamrocks had a very impressive weekend. One night after knocking off Class 2A No. 3 Tipton, the Shamrocks bagged yet another win over a ranked team.
Jeff Howard had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds Dec. 19 as Westfield beat 2A No. 10 Taylor, 55-42.
“I was pleased because you never know how you’re going to react after playing and beating a very good Tipton team last night,” said Westfield coach Eric Rauch. “Our junior guards, Maurice Fuller and Jake Norris, really stepped up for us tonight.”
This one was rarely in doubt as Westfield (4-2) opened up a 24-6 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Norris and Fuller were key ingredients in the starting run as Norris had six points while Fuller came off the bench for eight straight points.
Fuller would end up leading all scorers with 18 points on the evening, while Norris had 15.
“The major thing was our intensity in the second half as opposed to the first half,” said Taylor coach Jeff Fisher. “The way you play these guys is to get in their face, front the post, and bang with them a bit. We didn’t do that in the first half.
“There were two halves here. The first was awful, but the second half was better. We can’t do that. Our schedule is too difficult for that to happen.”
In Taylor’s case, it was a matter of the little things not going the Titans’ way. Westfield shot almost 59 percent from the field, while Taylor (4-2) was just 41 percent. Westfield also owned the glass with a 25-14 rebounding edge.
When combined with a 6-of-15 night from the free throw line for the Titans, it is no wonder that Westfield was able to pull away in this one.
Taylor trailed 30-11 at the half and fell behind by as many as 22 before making a modest comeback. Trailing 43-23 going into the final period, Taylor turned up its defensive intensity and managed to cut the lead to nine with 4:28 left in the game.
Unfortunately, that is where missed free throws came into play. Taylor missed the front end of three one-and-one situations midway through the fourth quarter that could have made a difference in the game.
“That is on our kids,” said Fisher. “That is the highest percentage place to score points because it should be about 70 to 75 percent. You’re not going to find anywhere else on the floor where you’re going to shoot that well.”
Westfield was able to close the game out with a modest 6-0 run that finally sealed the deal.
“I thought the first half we played all right and did what we wanted to, and we just got lazy in the second half,” said Rauch. “They did a really good job of coming back in the second half and taking our bigs away, but I have a feeling their coach kind of got on them a little in the locker room at halftime.”
Westfield now owns a nice three-game winning streak with victories over ranked teams in 4A Lafayette Jefferson (a 61-59 Hoosier Crossroads Conference upset at home Dec. 11), Tipton by a 61-54 count last night, and now Taylor. The Shamrocks continue their gauntlet of a schedule Dec. 29 with a game at 4A No. 12 Kokomo (5-0), which beat Marion and Lafayette Jeff this weekend.
Taylor saw its own four-game winning streak snapped, but the Titans are still an important 2-0 in Mid-Indiana Conference play. They return to action Dec. 30 at Sheridan.
The box score:
Taylor 6 5 12 19 – 42
Westfield 16 14 13 12 – 55
Taylor
Reomey Northington 5-9 2-2 13
Seth Vautaw 0-2 0-0 0
Drake Herr 3-11 0-2 7
Walter Wheeler 1-2 0-2 2
Tyler Simmons 2-5 4-9 8
Cody Hinton 4-4 0-0 12
Jordan Foster 0-1 0-0 0
Matt Brankle 0-2 0-0 0
Spencer McQuery 0-0 0-0 0
TOTALS 15-36 6-15 42
Westfield
Nate Hartauer 1-2 0-0 3
Jake Norris 7-9 1-3 15
Austin Brengle 0-0 0-0 0
Jeff Howard 4-8 3-6 11
Michael Stockton 2-4 2-2 6
Maurice Fuller 5-7 6-7 18
Travis Verhoff 1-3 0-0 2
Ajay Lawton 0-0 0-0 0
TOTALS 20-34 12-18 55
3-pointers: Taylor 6-15 (Hinton 4-4, Northington 1-3, Herr 1-3, Vautaw 0-2, Brankle 0-1, Foster 0-1), Westfield 3-9 (Fuller 2-4, Hartauer 1-1, Norris 0-2, Verhoff 0-2)
Rebounds: Taylor 14 (Simmons 4, Herr 4), Westfield 25 (Howard 10)
Fouls: Taylor 19 (Herr fouled out), Westfield 15
Turnovers: Taylor 14, Westfield 14
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